


Because of The Cats

by 3ALover



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Ice Skating, Cat Cafés, M/M, Mama Hanyu Ships It, Meet-Cute, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 17:11:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18145061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3ALover/pseuds/3ALover
Summary: Yuzuru Hanyu has a bad morning at work and goes in search of food that won't hurt his tummy for lunch. Instead, he stumbles across the man of his dreams and tons of adorable, fluffy cats.





	Because of The Cats

**Author's Note:**

> The inevitable reaction to "My favorite animals are cats" lol.
> 
> Once again, thanks to my rock star editor for doing this in a single day. I don't get how it's even possible to do that but here you go. Hope you guys enjoy it!

To say Yuzuru was not having a good day would be an understatement. An incredible one. Yuzuru’s morning started with his alarm not going off. Then, his mother hadn’t made him lunch to take to work. When he got to work, his boss was already angry and, being the new intern, he took it out on Yuzuru. When lunch finally came, instead of eating in the break room like always, Yuzuru had to go out in search of food that wouldn’t upset his delicate stomach.

After searching around for good restaurants on his phone, he decided to go to one with good reviews. On the walk there, however, he passed a window that caught his attention: There was the biggest, fluffiest cat ever looking back at him. 

Yuzuru stopped and crouched, smiling as he tapped on the glass and the cat’s mouth opened in a meow he couldn’t hear. “Hello, Beautiful,” he cooed, smiling when the cat followed his fingertip. 

And then his day got even better when a second cat, this one black and sleek, joined the big fluffy one. He sat there playing with the cats for a few minutes until someone came out of the door beside him. It was only then that he looked up and read the window above him and his terrible day instantly turned to gold.

_Cat Café_

Yuzuru looked past the cats and realized that, yes, there were people at tables having coffee with cats on their laps and by their feet. He instantly stood and went in. He didn’t even like coffee, but after his stressful start of the day, he really, really, really wanted to pet one of those cats. Or all of them. He would gladly lay on the floor and let the cats pile on him and soothe away his stress. The ruined suit would be worth it.

Yuzuru walked inside and smiled when a cat sitting on a bookshelf meowed at him. He decided he was going to pet every single cat in this building as he reached out to rub its furry head. He approached the counter when he spotted a big, big cat with mottled fur. He _had_ to pet that cat. When he reached out to stroke her head, she leaned into his touch and purred. “Hi,” he greeted, beaming when she chased his hand as he withdrew it. “Okay, I won’t stop.”

“She does that, sorry.” Yuzuru looked up and his day went from golden to heavenly. There before him was quite possibly the most attractive man he had ever seen in his life. “What can I get you?” he asked.

Yuzuru flushed and looked up at the menu behind him. “Sorry, I didn’t even look yet,” he said, and the guy smiled at him. Yuzuru barely kept from falling over.

“Effie has that power,” he joked.

Yuzuru looked at the cat. “Effie?” he asked, and the man nodded. “Weird name for a cat.”

“Well, she’s actually mine. I brought her with me when I moved here. The rest I adopted since I opened the café,” the man said.

Yuzuru smiled. “Oh, that’s a great idea, open a store you can bring you cat to every day!”

The man smiled, looking at Yuzuru closely. “I’m Javier,” he introduced.

Yuzuru smiled a bit bashfully. “I’m Yuzuru,” he greeted. 

Javier tilted his head. “Sorry for staring, it’s just that your smile is interesting. Has anybody ever told your smile kind of makes you look like a cat?” he asked.

Yuzuru blushed and shook his head. “That is new to me. But I like it. Cats are my favorite animal.”

“I think you could say they’re mine, too,” he replied, gesturing around him. A customer politely cleared his throat behind Yuzuru, and Yuzuru panicked.

“I’ll have a green tea and- and-“ He felt even more stupid for making a fool of himself, so he grabbed a fruit cup from the cooler next to the register. “And this,” he said rather unattractively, shoving it at the handsome shop owner. Yuzuru wanted to go die now.

However, that cute man just smirked. “Alright,” he said, ringing Yuzuru up. When Yuzuru paid him and got his change, he quickly rushed away to a table. 

Yuzuru was distracted from his utter humiliation of being a weirdo in front of a hot man by the tiniest kitten hopping into his lap the second he sat down. He cooed as he touched its gray fur. The big, blue eyes and tiny baby ‘meow’ instantly lifted his mood. It only got better when _two more_ kittens identical to that one climbed up his pants, meowing at him for attention. 

Yuzuru had a full litter of kittens on his lap and he thought he might die of joy. 

~

Javier opened his café for exactly the look on Yuzuru’s face as he fumbled with the kittens he had found by a dumpster last week. People came into his shop stressed out about their lives and then his cats turned their whole day around. A lapful of kittens would make anyone happy, but Yuzuru’s smile was blinding as he talked to them and held them. Javier couldn’t help but think that smile was kind of beautiful. 

When Yuzuru’s tea was ready, he didn’t send his employee to take it out, he went himself. He approached the table and put on his best flirtatious smile as he sat the tea down. “Be careful of the kittens. They are curious. Don’t want them to try and sip your tea and burn their little mouths.”

Yuzuru looked up at him with the most contented look ever on his face. “Oh, good idea.” He made kissy sounds at the kittens. “Tea is not for babies, so that would be bad.” He looked up at Javier and Javier thought he could look into those eyes all night. “What are their names?”

Javier shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet. They’re new. I found them abandoned last week.” He smiled sadly. “Probably their mother got killed while out looking for food. I’m lucky I found them before they could get sick or starve. They’re healthy though. And everybody loves kittens.”

Yuzuru looked _heartbroken_. “Oh no! The poor babies,” he said, then picked them up one at a time to kiss on the head. “It’s okay. You’re so cute everybody here will love you. You have a new father now. He will care for you,” he said, then smiled up at Javier. “Right, Ja-uh” He blushed. “Ja-vi-er,” he said, struggling with Javi’s name.

Javier might actually have fallen in love at first sight, because this man was too adorable. “Just Javi is fine. A lot of people struggle with my name here.”

Yuzuru scrunched up his nose. “Where are you from? Your Japanese is perfect, but your accent is one I don’t know. A lot of Americans live nearby because of the university, but you don’t sound like them.”

Javier grinned and sat down across from Yuzuru, happy to start up a conversation. “I’m from Spain,” he explained, and Yuzuru looked surprised.

“Wow, that is a big change of pace, huh?”

“It took me a while, but I love it here,” Javier confessed. “I miss my home sometimes but I visit my parents every year and I love my business and my friends here.”

Yuzuru nodded, sipping his tea slowly before putting it down. “What brought you all the way to Japan to open a cat café?” he asked.

“Well, like a lot of people, I followed a girl,” he said, watching closely to see Yuzuru’s reaction. He wasn’t disappointed when Yuzuru’s face fell some.

“O-oh.”

Javier smirked. “Didn’t really work out with her,” he added, and the light flickered back into Yuzuru’s eyes.

“Oh,” he said, cheeks getting just a bit rosy. “You stayed here even though you didn’t stay with the girl?” he asked.

Javier smiled sadly. “It wasn’t as fleeting as I make it sound. We were together three years,” he explained, and Yuzuru pouted.

“Oh no. I’m sorry,” he said genuinely. Javier couldn’t get over how much he liked this guy’s personality after minutes of talking. 

Javier nodded. “She wanted to move south to be near her parents, but I had just opened this business and I was doing so well, and I already had the cats, what would happen to them if I had to leave?” he added. “I chose to stay, she chose to go, so we just went our own ways.”

Yuzuru giggled as a kitten fell over in his lap adorably. “Kittens are better than girls anyway,” he agreed. “So, tell me about all of the cats!” Yuzuru asked excitedly and Javier contented himself to lean back in his seat and just talk about all the cats in the room while Yuzuru ate his fruit and drank his tea. 

Yuzuru seemed to enjoy it to, going on how he lost track of time and then panicked when he realized he was going to be late back to work. Javier really hoped that he would see Yuzuru again. He didn’t even get to ask for his family name, nonetheless his number.

~

Yuzuru asked his mom not to pack him lunch anymore. He claimed that he felt more grown-up going to get his own lunch every day, but the truth was, he wanted an excuse to go back to the cat café and see the adorable kittens again. 

And the owner.

Yuzuru blushed as he got dressed for work just thinking about how much he liked Javier’s voice and his face and his smile. He was so gorgeous. And Yuzuru was pretty sure Javi was flirting with him. He was too shy to ask him about it, but he hoped his smiles and laughing were indicative that he liked Javi, too.

Every day he went to Javi’s cat café for lunch, and most days, Javi joined him. He even started experimenting with new things Yuzuru might eat since he was so picky about his food. “How do you not like fried chicken on a salad?! Everybody loves fried chicken,” Javier complained as Yuzuru picked the chicken off his salad. 

“I do not eat fried food,” Yuzuru said with a shrug. “Or meat that is not fish. Meat hurts my tummy,” he added. “I like tofu,” he offered.

Javier narrowed his eyes. “Tomorrow’s special will be a tofu wrap,” he decided. “I just have to learn to cook tofu,” he added and Yuzuru laughed at him.

“Javi, really, fruit is fine. I do not eat much,” Yuzuru said with a shake of his head.

Javier groaned. “But you’re so thin, you need more food!”

Yuzuru giggled. “Are you saying I’m too skinny?”

“Your body is fine how it is, but I really worry someone is going to hug you and break you,” Javier teased.

Yuzuru bit his lip and ducked his head. “I do not have anybody to hug me. I don’t have a boyfriend,” he added softly. 

Javier’s intake of breath told him all he needed to know about whether Javier was interested or not. “Well. You should. You’re too beautiful to be single,” he added, and Yuzuru looked up with wide eyes and, most likely, red cheeks.

“You- you think I am beautiful?”

Javier bit his lip and his eyes grew more serious. “The most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” he said, and Yuzuru’s breath hitched when Javier reached out and gently laid his hand on top of Yuzuru’s on the table. “Any man you smile at should go weak at the knees.”

Yuzuru smiled a tiny little smile and looked down at their hands. “You don’t,” he all but whispered.

“I’m always sitting down with you,” Javier replied, and Yuzuru took a chance and turned his hand over, clasping it with Javier’s. Javier just squeezed back. He looked up at him, searching those giant, beautiful brown eyes. Javier smiled shyly – something Yuzuru had never seen – and ducked his head some. “I like you, Yuzuru. Would you do me the honor of going out for dinner sometime?”

Yuzuru had to fight back a squeal of delight as he nodded rapidly. “Yes. I would love to.”

“Really?” Javier asked, as if unable to believe his lucky.

Yuzuru giggled, nodding again. “I like you, too. I would love to go on a date with you.”

Javier, being silly, threw his arms up in joy. “Yes!” He scooped up the nearest cat and held it in front of him. “Did you hear?! Yuzuru is going to go out with me!” He then turned the cat around and held it in front of his face, putting on a voice to ‘talk’ for the cat. “Yay, Yuzu, you won’t regret it, Javi is the best, he is really handsome and takes good care of us, he’s a great guy!”

Yuzuru laughed loudly, knowing he was drawing attention but unable to stop. “Oh my God, Javi, you’re too silly,” he said, putting a hand in front of his face as he swayed some, barely able to breathe he was laughing so hard. 

Javier Fernandez was honestly the most charming man Yuzuru had ever met, and he couldn’t believe he was going on a date with him. 

~

“Moooom,” Yuzuru whined, trying to swat her away from his hair. “Please, stop!”

“No, you’re twenty-four years old and finally going on your first adult date, if I don’t do something about this hair, I’ll never have grandchildren,” she fussed as she tried to comb his hair to the side and make him more presentable. 

Yuzuru spluttered. “I’m going out with a man! I’m gay! There are no babies coming from that.”

She shushed him. “You can always adopt,” she said, then turned him around, looking at him straight on. “Hmmmm. It’ll do,” she decided and he rolled his eyes. He really thought she was going over the top about this. 

“Mom, come on. I’m the one that should be nervous! A really handsome man who is sweet and kind asked me out to dinner.” He smiled brightly just at the thought he was _really_ about to go on a _date_ with Javi. “Oh my God, he really likes me, Mom,” he gushed.

She smirked. “You look just like your mother, any man should swoon,” she joked and he giggled and rolled his eyes again. “You’re beautiful, you just have trouble because you’re gay. If you liked girls, I would have you married off already. The only reason you don’t have men falling down in the street is because our society is stupid,” she comforted, picking lint off his sweater as she looked him over. “You’re so handsome. It just took a man brave enough to ask you out.”

Yuzuru hummed, turning to look at his reflection. He never knew if he was really beautiful or if his mother just saw him through the lens of a parent who adored her child. He thought he looked okay. His face was weirdly shaped, but he didn’t think it was so bad. He had different-sized eyes, which was kind of not attractive, but his mom said they were beautiful when they sparkled. Javier was possibly the most attractive man Yuzuru had ever seen and he asked him out, so he must not be too homely, Yuzuru thought and then blushed. “He wasn’t even sneaky about it. We were in the middle of his café surrounded by customers and he even did a silly ‘yay’ thing,” he murmured. “Maybe he is the brave man I needed to meet.”

“Probably because he’s not from here,” Yumi commented. “You said he’s from Europe. Europeans are very open people. They don’t worry about propriety and other people’s opinion as much. Honestly, it sounds like a good match for you. You’re terrible about being loud and showy,” she teased. “You are not at all shy about anything. A man who expects you to be quiet and demure would never make you happy.”

Yuzuru groaned. “Oh my God, we’re talking about this like I’m going to marry him, that’s crazy. It’s just a first date!”

Yumi tutted. “I am trying to get you married.” She turned him around with a playful glare. “I really want grandchildren, after all.”

When the doorbell rang, Yuzuru and his mother both smiled and she shoved him along past his sister and his father, who both looked amused. “Okay, okay, at least let me get my shoes!” he said, stopping to sit down and put his shoes on. His mother ignored him and went ahead and got the door. “Mom!” he whined.

“Well hello, you must be Javi,” she greeted a rather surprised looking Javier. “Hey, Yuzuru, you’re right, he’s really hot!” she called over her shoulder and Yuzuru nearly died of embarrassment right there – and he knew that was her intention – and scrambled to his feet, feeling how red his face was.

“OKAY MOM I’M LEAVING NOW, BYE!” he all but shouted, rushing out the door, grabbing Javi’s jacket to tug him along.

“REMEMBER TO BE CHARMING SO I FINALLY GET GRANDCHILDREN!” she called after them and Yuzuru let out a squawk of horror and tugged Javi along faster.

“Oh my God, I’m going to have to jump off a building,” he muttered as they started down the street, but Javier stopped him, catching his hand and tugging him around to face him.

“Pretty sure that would be a terrible first date,” Javier joked, and Yuzuru took a breath and looked up into his eyes, smiling bashfully.

“Hi, I’m sorry my mother is crazy, how are you, Jabi?” he asked quickly.

Javier just smirked. “At least now I know where your sense of humor came from.” He greeted Yuzuru with a squeeze of his hand. “And your beauty. Did you know you look exactly like your mom?” he asked, and Yuzuru rolled his eyes.

“Yes, she says I’m lucky I got her looks, not my father’s,” he joked.

Javier grinned teasingly. “Well, would you like to go to dinner now? After all, we have to give a first date a try if your mother expects us to give her grandchildren,” he teased and Yuzuru pouted at him.

“This is a terrible idea, you’re just going to bully me,” he accused jokingly, then tugged Javi’s hand. “Come on, you must give me food to make up for teasing me.”

“Anything you want, Beautiful.”

~

**One Year Later**

“Yuzuru, Javi, stop that and help with these boxes!”

Yuzuru broke the kiss and pouted at his sister, where she struggled with a box on the way into their new apartment. Javier chuckled and pecked his cheek. “Come on, Beautiful. Let’s actually help.” He scooped Yuzuru up with no warning and Yuzuru yelped, grabbing hold of his neck.

“JABI!” he whined, and Javier just grinned.

“We’ve got the rest of our lives to make out in the hallway outside our apartment, but only if your sister doesn’t kill us for not helping,” he said, carrying Yuzuru over to the doorway. “Here, Saya, I’ve got another load from downstairs,” he joked, sitting Yuzuru down on his feet beside the box she was struggling with. Yuzuru and Saya both made faces at him, but when he picked the box up, he grinned as both sets of eyes got distracted by the glint from his ring. “Here, Beautiful, get the other one,” he instructed and Yuzuru sighed dramatically but grabbed it all the same. 

This time Javier’s eyes got caught by the glint from the matching ring on Yuzuru’s hand. 

“Well,” Yumi said from inside. “It’s a nice first home, but you’ll definitely have to buy a house when you finally give me those grandchildren.”

“Oh my God,” Yuzuru groaned, and Javier just leaned over to kiss his cheek again.

“Don’t worry, once we have kids, she’ll be the one that has to deal with all the family events and regret never having free time,” he said with a wink. Effie shot between their legs and they heard Yumi coo.

“Oh well, all the grand-kitties can do for now,” Yumi said in a dramatic baby voice, and Javier snickered.

He looked at Yuzuru and smirked. “Definitely where you got your personality.”

“I hate you,” Yuzuru said flatly, but stood on his toes to kiss him quickly before going to stop his mother from over-feeding their cats. Javier watched him go and just smiled. Opening a cat café had definitely been the best decision he ever made if this is the life it got him.


End file.
